Immigration

Introduction

The Island has seen a small amount of immigration over the
centuries:

Garrison and Retainers brought over by the Stanley Lords of
Man - the Stanleys
became Lords of Man early in the 15C - their power base was in
West Lancashire and over the three centuries of Stanley rule many
English families from their estates came over to form the basis of
the garrisons in Peel and especially in Castletown. As can be seen
both from the 1511
manorial roll and list
of Castletown cottagers significant numbers of these bear
English names. It would appear that the Stanleys had a deliberate
policy of settling English, and thus presumably trusted, families
around their base at Castle Rushen. Likewise sensitive
administrative posts generally went to those families connected
with the Earls of Derby's estates.

Irish escaping the 1690's disturbances . A report dated 20 May
1689 states that James Davy (Master of Diamond of Belfast) just
arrived from Isle of Man where daily arrive Protestants from the
North of Ireland and report the barbarous usage they receive from
the Irish [HMC ... vol II 1922] Waldron
speaking of the period from c.1700 to 1720 states " but since that
[the 'census' taken at Bishop Wilson's request] so many
Irish families have come over and settled there that the account
is greatly encreased" - he also states later, that like the native
poor, they subsisted on herring and potatoes. A second influx of
Irish, this time Catholic, came in 1798 to avoid the short lived
rebellion.

Merchants attracted by the 'Running
Trade' - Douglas from c.1675 through to 1765 was the centre of
a large industry in evading English (and Scottish) customs duties.
Although many Manx were involved a significant number of the
controlling merchants were Liverpool based. Most would appear to
have removed themselves hurriedly after the Act
of Revestment

English Debtors - until the law
was changed in 1814 debtors who owed money outside of the
Island could not have their effects on the Island
constrained.

'Half pay' officers and others looking for a cheaper place of
residence - from the 1790's but particularly from the end of the
Napoleonic wars in 1815 and in the 1820's and 30's as the Duke of
Atholl attempted to entice new settlers.

Retainers and appointees by the 4th
Duke of Atholl when he became Governor in 1793 (some earlier
immigrants may have come over to help administer his and his
father's estates from 1765).

Affluent, or go-ahead, farmers who seeing the possibilities of
the then underproductive Manx farms, bought large farms c.1800
onwards - an example is the Quarry's
who farmed Ballavoddan.

Cumbrian (and later Cornish) miners who came over to help
re-establish the Laxey and Foxdale mines in the early 1820's and
later.

A small, but apparently continual, influx of Northern Irish to
work in the Linen/Sail cloth works at Tromode
(The Moores also owned a linen works in Monkstown, near Belfast,
from which they would appear to have recruited workers).

Many of those who established the tourist
trade which boomed from 1870's onwards would appear to be from
Lancashire - there would appear to have been an earlier custom of
hotel keepers to have
come from Lancashire.

Finally I should mention the unwilling internees
detained in internment camps in both world wars

A separate set of pages giving some genealogical history of the
more prominent of these families is given elsewhere.

As concerning the inhabitants of these towns, they are of
2 sorts, natives and foreigners. I call all those foreigners
wch are not born in the Isle of Man, as the English,
who are here in the greatest number, Scots, Irish, and Welch. The
English come over hither, some to serve the Lord of ye
Island, to have office or place under him, or to be of his
household, as shall be shewed hereafter, and these for the major
part are Lancashire or Cheshire men, ye Scots, Irish, and Welch,
as the first most come to dwell there, some few to be shopkeepers,
the others marry with the Manks women, so their children become
natives. These foreigners, as I conceive, do make up ye
4th, the natives born 3 parts, of the inhabitants of every
town.

....

yt there is not so much as one Frenchman, Spaniard,
or Dutchman yt doth profess or exercise any manual
trade either in of the towns or of the country, or hath any
habitation there. These foreigners for their diet and apparel
every one pleaseth himself according to their own country, manner,
and custom. These are civil, sociable, very industrious, but
subtle, crafty, and envious one of another.

Waldron in his 'History of the Isle of Man' (written 1720's)
states that

but then as the chief towns are seldom without some
gentry, either English, Irish, or Scots, tho' the greater number
are of the two latter.

There is one interesting aside in a letter from Bishop of Kilmore
to George Dodington dated 10 Jan 1734/5 Dublin: recommending to him
Lady Doneraile's case, who is appearing before the House of Lords for
alimony. Her husband "being a weak man and a sot, his relatives have
him entirely in their keeping in the Isle of Man, where for £200
a year, he may have his dose of brandy and claret twice a day".
[HMC vi 1909] .

Early Encouragement of Immigration

An act of Tynwald of August 1697 repealed earlier discrimination
against aliens:

An ACT, for repealing the Laws made against
Aliens,

WHEREAS by two severall antient Laws, the one of the Year 1429
incerted in the Book of Statutes of this Isle, it is provided and
declared that all Aliens residing within the said Isle, shall make
Faith and Fealty to the Lord; and if any such Alien be so resident
and make no Faith or Fealty to the Lord when he dyeth, (whose
Tennant soever he be,) the Lord shall have his Goods by his
Prerogative: Now it being the good Will and Pleasure of the Right
Honourable the Lord of this Isle to have the said Laws repealed,
for the Encouragement of all Foreigners and Strangers to reside
here, be it therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the
before-recited Laws, and all Things mentioned or intended in and
by the same, shall, from and after the Day of the Date hereof, be
utterly repealed, made void, and of none effect, to all Intents
and Purposes whatsoever; and that all and every Person or Persons,
whether Subjects of the Kingdomes of Scotland or Ireland, or any
Foreigners or Strangers, of any other Kingdoms or Nations (their
Prince being in amity with the Crown of England) coming into this
Isle to reside, shall for the future have and enjoy the same
Imunitys, Privilledges, and Advantages that any of the Subjects or
Inhabitants of England have or hereafter shall or may have and
enjoy by the Laws and Customes of this Isle, any other Law, Usage,
or Custome heretofore practiced to the contrary
notwithstanding.(Signed.) John Parr, Daniel
Mylrea.N. Sankey, J. Rowe, Ri. Stevenson, Tho.
Huddleston.Charles Christian, Nich. Christian, John
Wattleworth, Cha. Moor, Day. Murrey, Nicho. Thompson, Sill.
Ratcliffe, John Bridson, Tho. Christian, Will. Christian, John
Curlett, John Kaighin, Caesar Wattleworth, John Oates, Pat.
Christian, James Bancks, James Christian, Ro. Christian, James
Gates, Robert Curghy, Thomas Woods.

I am well pleased with these severall Acts, and do confirm the
same, and will that they be published in due Forme upon the
Tynwald Hill. DERBY

Running Trade

This major activity of the Island has been well covered by many
authors - the following brief quote from Woods,
1811 gives the situation following 1765:

Till the act of revestment in 1765, and the subsequent
regulations, the chief business of the place was smuggling.
The annual returns of this trade exceeded 350,000l. and by
some were estimated so high as half a million, while the value of
seizures was not more than 10,000l. so that the profits to
those engaged in it were probably enormous. The Duke of Athol,
having a small duty upon imports, rather encouraged than set his
face against it. The place formed completely the harbour and the
storehouse of smugglers, whence they shipped their goods, as
occasion offered, to England, Ireland, or Scotland, to the great
detriment of the British revenue, Many persons being by its
failure thrown out of employment, emigrated to America; some went
to sea; some engaged themselves in the fisheries; and others
turned attention to the cultivation of the ground. To exchange an
irregular and idle life for one of constant activity- and industry
is no easy achievement: the waste lands and short crops evince how
much remains to be done.

Debtors

Following a law of 1737 which allowed residents to avoid
prosecution for debts not contracted on the Island, Douglas became
known as a resort of debtors. Robertson
writing in 1794 states:

But Douglas is not only the chief seat of commerce: it is
also the principal residence of the English. Officers on halfpay,
and gentlemen of small fortunes resort hither; invited by the
abundance of the necessaries, and the easy access to the luxuries,
of life. Besides these, there are several decayed merchants who
have sought shelter here from the persecution of unrelenting
creditors : these live in retirement, and seldom mingle with their
more independent countrymen. To the society of the English Douglas
is considerably indebted. They have given life and gaiety to the
town; and have contributed to polish the manners of the natives.
Convivial societies, assemblies, and card-parties, are now
frequent among the higher circles of Douglas.

However by the early 1800's the situation would appear to have
become different as the following quote from Woods
relating to 1808 relates

The Isle of Man is a place of considerable resort for
strangers, and is become so chiefly or altogether upon two
accounts. The first is that it is a place privileged by law from
all debts not contracted here; and from debts contracted here, if
not with the inhabitants as far as respects the person and money
of the debtor, but not his goods. The subject will be further
noticed in the Second Book. The island is so much the resort of
persons of this description, that a man, on his arrival, is,
ipso facto, immediately suspected of coming hither to avoid
his creditors. A poem by a Manksman has the two following
couplets:

Let not the peaceful stranger hope to find
An Eden here, and saints of human kind
No sooner is he ladled o' the quay,
Than vigilant detraction grasps her prey."

The second reason is, that a family may live especially in the
country, and more particularly at the northern part, at a very
small expense.

Woods also gives several
anecdotes of various means of redress taken against such debtors
- most involving forcible removal from the Island!

Perhaps the most wounding criticism of such 'come-overs' can be
found in Hannah Bullocks History
of 1816 - talking about the fairer sex she writes:

In speaking of the female part of the community, I shall
pass lightly over the occasional visitors, and confine my remarks
almost wholly to the natives, those who have come hither from
other countries have seldom presented good specimens; either
extravagance or necessity are badly calculated to form the
character of woman in the best mould, and to one or other of these
causes may be ascribed most of the emigrations which have hitherto
taken place. Future writers will probably have better subjects to
describe, but till now the most striking traits exhibited by these
fair wanderers have been a sovereign contempt for those them came
to live amongst, a prodigious flippancy, vast affectation of high
breeding, and pretensions to a rank in their own country, not
always borne out by facts. With these ladies it was usual to pass
their time in querulous regret at the fate which had condemned
them to irradiate so low a sphere, and eager anticipations of
their return to a more extended circle.

A law of 1814
effectively put an end to this safety and, although current residents
were safe as the law applied only to new residents, the debtors moved
out.

Conclusion

The attractions of the island appear sufficient to
occasion a continual influx of strangers. The worst characters
will probably introduce the most wealth. Having no money which
they can honestly call their own, they will be prodigal of that
which they have iniquitously acquired.

They will build and plant, and endeavour to introduce into the
present scene every possible luxury and comfort. On its being the
continual resort of strangers depends, and I think may safely
depend, the increasing prosperity of this country.

I will refrain from more than mentioning, the Island's current,
almost total, reliance on the 'Offshore Finance Industry'.